JP2013508169A - Computer aided beam making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

The beam processing apparatus includes opposing vise assemblies that hold the beam and rotate about the longitudinal axis of the beam, and a number of gantry configured to translate along the beam. In order to process the beam with the tool, at least one tool head mounting body is provided that is fixed to each gantry. A number of motors are provided to selectively rotate the vise assembly and move the gantry to allow the apparatus to operate with a computer control system.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  Certain embodiments of the present invention relate to a CNC beam line machine that automatically cuts and drills steel beams.

  No discussion of any prior art document, technique, method or apparatus shall be construed as an admission or admission that such prior art forms or has formed part of common general knowledge. .

  Steel frame production is a labor-intensive operation. During steel fabrication, the steel beam is drilled and cut according to the fabrication drawing to enable assembly to meet the engineering requirements associated with the upcoming construction. Usually, only about one-third of the cost associated with fabricated steel is the price of raw steel. The rest of the cost is working time.

  In the past few years, various proposals have been made to reduce the labor intensive level of steel frame production. One such proposal is the use of CNC beam line machines. In general, such machines include a pedestal and place a work beam along one side of the pedestal. In order to perform various processes on the beam, for example, to make a hole, the electric tool mounting body is appropriately moved along one side of the base so as to move up and down.

  Although prior art CNC beam lines increase the processing capacity of steel fabrication plants, they have many drawbacks. For example, the type and range of processing that can be performed on the beam are undesirably limited.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved or at least useful alternative to such presently known steel making machines.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a beam processing apparatus is provided,
A vise assembly that holds the beam and rotates it about the long axis of the beam;
At least one translational assembly operating along the beam;
And at least one tool head mounting that is secured to the translation assembly for machining the beam with the tool.

  Preferably, the vise assembly includes a pair of opposing vises provided to cooperatively hold and rotate the beam.

  Preferably, the device includes at least one motor to move the vise closer and away.

  Preferably, the vise includes cradles that are each rotatable to support the beam.

  The apparatus may further include at least one motor for rotating the cradle.

  In the preferred embodiment, at least one motor for moving the vise closer and away is coupled to the rack and pinion configuration.

  The vise may run on wheels, and the rack and pinion configuration includes a first rail mounted on the rack and a pinion that meshes with the rack, the pinion being a spindle of at least one motor. Secure and couple the motor to one of the vise.

  In a preferred embodiment, the translation assembly includes at least one gantry.

  The apparatus may include a gantry motor to move the gantry relative to the vise pair.

  Preferably, the tool head mount includes one or more of panning, tilting, and roll motors.

  Preferably, the at least one gantry travels along at least the second rail.

  At least one gantry may travel along the first rail pair, and the vise may travel along the second rail pair. Preferably, the first rail pair is arranged outside the second rail pair.

  In a preferred embodiment, the at least one gantry includes three gantry and the at least one tool head attachment includes three corresponding tool head attachments coupled thereto.

  Preferably, a welding tool is attached to one of the tool head attachments.

  Preferably, the laser position detector is attached to one of the tool head attachments.

  Preferably, a cutting tool is attached to one of the tool head attachments.

  An electromagnet may be attached to one of the tool head attachments that selectively holds the part to be welded to the beam.

  The apparatus may include a holder for storing components at a predetermined position.

  For example, such a part may include cleats that are welded to the beam with a welding tool.

  The apparatus may include the remote control computer control system.

  Preferably, the computer control system includes a computer configured to read a drawing file containing information for processing a steel beam.

  A computer control system for moving a tool coupled to a tool mounting assembly to process a steel beam includes a computer and a motor for one or more of a gantry, a tool mounting assembly, and a vise. May further include one or more controller boards configured to interact with each other.

  Preferably, the controller is responsive to the motor's position encoder.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a method of machining a beam is provided, the method comprising:
Rotating the beam along the long axis of the beam to a desired angle at which the tool head approaches;
Inspecting the position of the beam with a laser measuring device;
Moving the tool head to a predetermined position adjacent to the beam;
Manipulating the tool head on the beam,
Each step of the method is controlled by an electronic control system.

  The method may include the step of relocating the part to be attached to the beam from the retracted position to a predetermined position by gripping the part with an electromagnet.

  The method may include inspecting with a laser measurement device whether the component is correctly oriented.

  The tool head may include a welding head. The part may include cleats.

  The method may include simultaneously operating the electromagnet and the welding head to weld the part to the beam.

  Preferably, the tool head is moved into position along the beam by a translation assembly.

  Alternatively, the tool head may include a cutting head that forms an opening in the beam.

  In a further embodiment, the tool head may include a spray coating head that applies paint to the beam.

  Preferred features, embodiments and modifications of the invention will be understood from the following detailed description which provides those skilled in the art with sufficient information to practice the invention. The detailed description is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the summary of the invention described above. The detailed description is made with reference to the following drawings.

FIG. 2 is a slightly stylized perspective view of a steel beam manufacturing apparatus on which a workpiece is placed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It is an enlarged view of a vise of this device. FIG. 3 is a further view of the vise of the device. It is a figure of the motor which moves a vise sled. FIG. 2 is an end view of the motor of the apparatus, showing a rotary encoder assembly. It is a figure regarding the upper part of the gantry of this apparatus. It is a figure of the tool attachment body of this apparatus. It is a block diagram of the control system of this apparatus. It is a figure inside the control cabinet of a control system. FIG. 4 is a diagram relating to the apparatus in a further operational phase. It is a figure regarding this apparatus in another operation stage.

  Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which represents a somewhat stylized view of a beam making machine 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The beam manufacturing machine 1 is shown with a workpiece in the form of a steel beam 31.

  The manufacturing machine 1 includes an inner rail pair 2 and an outer rail pair 4. Two rotatable vises 9 and 6 travel along the inner rail pair 2. 2, 3 and 4 show the vise 9 in more detail.

  The configuration of the vise 6 corresponds to the configuration of the vise 9, which will now be described with reference to FIGS. The vise 9 consists of stands in the form of opposing plate pairs 7, 8, interconnecting the plate pairs by bearing rollers 16, which are corresponding central arc-shaped notches formed through each plate. Arranged in a circular arc around. The arc-shaped cradle 18 is supported by a bearing roller. The cradle 18 is located inside the notch and is connected to the arc-shaped flanges 22 and 24 facing each other. Projecting around the edge of each notch. The peripheral edge of the flange 24 has a tooth shape and meshes with the teeth of the step-down teeth 26A and 26B. The step-down teeth 26A and 26B are mounted on the spindles 28A and 28B of the servo motors 30A and 30B (not visible). In order to be able to monitor the position of the spindle and hence the angle of the cradle 18 with a control system (which will be briefly described later), a servo motor 30A is mounted on the position encoder 44 (visible in FIG. 5).

  A support base 34 is mounted across the inside of the cradle, and an opposing slidable jaw 11 (view approved in FIG. 1) is mounted on the support base 34. The slidable jaw 11 is provided so as to hold the workpiece in cooperation. Usually, the workpiece is a long steel member such as the steel beam 31.

  The vise 9 further includes a thread 40 that supports the opposing plates 7, 8 of the stand and includes a wheel (not shown) for rotating between the inner rails 2. Referring to FIG. 4, the servo motor 42 is mounted on either side below the sled 40. The servo motor 42 has a spindle, the spindle is mounted on a corresponding pinion (not shown), and the pinion is engaged with each rack 43 fixed along the inner side of the rail 2. As a result, during use, the servo motor 42 can accurately translate the vise 9 along the inner rail 2. Also, the position of the vise 9 can be determined by monitoring the signal from the rotary encoder of the servo motor 42.

  Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 6, a translation assembly including three gantry 13, 21, 23 runs along the outer rail 4. The gantry has the same structure and will be described with reference to the gantry 13. The gantry 13 consists of a pair of upstanding columns 15 and 17 extending upward from each base 44, 46. Bases 44 and 46 are mounted on servo motor 27 which is coupled to outer rail 4 by a rack and pinion configuration similar to that previously described with reference to vise 9. Accordingly, the gantry 13 can be accurately moved, ie translated, along the outer rail 4 by an electronic control system which will be described in the near future.

  Parallel cross rails 48 and 50 are horizontally mounted on the upper ends of the columns 15 and 17. The carriage 19 is mounted so as to straddle the crossbars 48 and 50 and is slid along the crossbar. A drive band is mounted in the upper cross rail between the opposing sprockets, and is provided to rotate by a servo motor 52 mounted on the top of the column 17. By operating the servo motor 52, the drive band is coupled to the carriage 19 so that the carriage 19 can be accurately positioned along the crossbars 48 and 50 as desired.

  A pair of parallel, vertical rails 54 and 56 are slidably engaged with the carriage 19. The vertical rails 54 and 56 may be moved up and down with respect to the carriage 19 by operating the servo motor 58. A servo motor 58 is coupled to the drive band, which is mounted in a vertical rail 56 and engaged with the carriage 19 to raise and lower the rails 54 and 56 relative to the carriage.

  A multi-axis tool mounting assembly 62 is mounted on the lower ends of the rails 54 and 56 as shown in FIG. The tool mounting assembly 62 includes a horizontal support plate 60 for mounting a pan servo motor 64. The spindle of the pan servo motor 64 protrudes through the opening of the support plate 60 and is attached to the vertical yoke 66 that supports the roll servo motor 68. As a result, a tool mounted on the spindle of the roll servo motor 68, such as a plasma cutting machine (not shown), can be moved around the five motion axes. In addition to the plasma cutting machine, other tools that may be attached to the tool mounting body in a replaceable manner include a welding machine, a marker, a spray coating head, an electromagnet, a laser position detector, and a drill. A plurality of tools may be attached to the tool attachment body at the same time. For example, the two tools may be mounted so that they can be rotated in the opposite directions and rotated to the proper use positions depending on the situation.

  The five motion axes of the tool mounting assembly are: Y translation along the outer rail by the servo motor 27, X translation along the crossbars 48, 50 by the servo motor 52, and the vertical rail 54 relative to the carriage 19 by the stepping motor 25. Includes 3 translational axes, which are Z translations. Further, there are two rotational motion axes: a motion axis that rotates around the spindle of the pan servo motor 64 and a motion axis that rotates around the spindle of the roll servo motor 68. The tool mounting body of the gantry 23 has the same method as the tool mounting body of the gantry 13 and is similarly configured in five stages. However, the gantry 21 includes a further tilt servo motor coupled at a right angle between the pan servo motor 64 and the roll servo motor 68 to provide six levels of motion to the tool mount.

  A block diagram of the controller system is shown in FIG. The controller system includes three controller cabinets 70A, 70B, 70C corresponding to each gantry. FIG. 9 shows the inside of the cabinet 70A.

  Each controller cabinet houses a controller board 72A, 72B, 72C made by Galil and connects the controller board to a corresponding PWM servo amplifier array 74A, 74B, 74C, which in turn allows a gantry, The vise drives a series of servo motors 82A, 82B, 82C associated with the tool mount. The circuit breaker array 76A, 76B, 76C protects the servo amplifier and servomotor from overcurrent surges.

  The controller board 72 receives encoder data from the servo motor controlled by each board. Each controller board is individually addressable via the Ethernet network 74 and communicates with the master PC 78. The master PC 78 executes a program 80. The program 80 processes a drawing of steel frame production, extracts related data, prompts the user to input, and extracts the drawing data and user input to an appropriate controller board. Contains instructions for converting to addressed controller board commands.

  The program 80 is stored in an auxiliary storage device such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk of the PC 78.

  In response to a command from the PC 74, a servo motor is operated on the controller board to perform a manufacturing operation. The controller board also pre-processes and relays encoder data returned from the servo motor encoder to the PC 78.

  The controller boards 72A, 72B, 72C include three Galil controller boards. These are Ethernet addressable boards, each capable of controlling a system with up to 8 motion axes. These Ethernet motion controllers are designed to be applied with a focus on space and space. The controller is also designed to avoid any wiring and any connection problems between the controller and the drive. Plug-in amplifiers can be used to drive stepping, brush, and brushless servomotors up to 500 watts. Alternatively, the board can be connected to an external drive of any power range.

  The Galil controller is available from Galil Motion Control, 270 Technology Way, Rocklin, California 95765, USA.

  In use, the vise 9 and 6 balanced at the center grips the beam 31 with the jaw 11 and operates the servo motor, for example, the servo motors 30A and 30B of the vise 9, to rotate the arc cradle 18, To rotate the beam around the long axis. A tool attachment, such as the tool attachment 62 of the gantry 13, is made accessible to all surfaces of the beam. Further, since the tool attachment body operates with multiple degrees of freedom, the tool attached to the attachment body can operate on any surface of the beam at virtually any angle.

  As an example of an embodiment relating to a method of operating the device, suppose that it is desirable to weld a component such as a cleat to a beam in place. Cleats are stored in a predetermined storage area attached to or near the device, such as a cassette.

  After placing the beams in opposing vise, the beam is rotated so that the welding tool head can use the position on the beam where the cleat is to be attached. Thereafter, the beam is accurately positioned by the laser measuring tool head, and it is inspected whether the cleat is correctly directed to the cassette. This final step may include checking that the asymmetrical slots, other openings, edges or indicia of the cleat are in the correct upward state.

  If the cleat is correctly oriented, the electromagnetic head operates to hold the cleat for welding and move it to the correct position on the beam. The welding head then welds the cleat to the beam in cooperation with the electromagnetic head. In this method, an electromagnetic head, a laser head, and a welding head are attached to a gantry-shaped translation assembly so that various operations can be performed by the tool head, and all of the translation assemblies are attached to the length of the beam. Can be seen to reciprocate. During execution of the method, the servo motor of the tool head fixture and the various gantry and vise servo motors are all operated and monitored, i.e. controlled by the control system illustrated in FIG.

  10 and 11 show the production machine 1 during various stages of work, with the gantry and vise sliding along the rails 2 and 4 to various positions.

The machine can be further operated to do the following:
i) Cutting the work piece into a long body having a square, angled, simple curved or complex curved notch.
ii) Drill holes in any surface of the workpiece.
iii) Put an identification mark on the workpiece.
iv) Hold the cleats where welding is ready.
v) Temporarily weld the cleats.
vi) Weld the cleats completely.
vii) The finished product is spray painted with a spray painting head.

  During operation, the relative movement between the tool attachment and the workpiece, e.g. the beam, can be performed by keeping the vise stationary and moving the tool or moving the workpiece and tool simultaneously. Good. A controller system for processing a single material into a plurality of small parts, leaving the work area stationary, and sending the material to the work area for processing immediately after the previous part is processed. Can be programmed.

  The present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments in which a translation assembly for a tool head attachment includes a plurality of gantry running on rails. However, other translation assemblies are possible. For example, in a further embodiment, the translation assembly may include a wheel or runner that slides along a guide attached to the ceiling above the vise.

  In accordance with the statute, the present invention has been described more or less specifically with respect to structure and method features. The terms “comprises” and their conjugations (including “comprising” and “comprised of”) are used throughout to include and exclude any additional features. It is not a thing.

  It should be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown or described, as the means described herein include preferred forms of embodying the invention. Therefore, the present invention shall be claimed in any form or modification within the appropriate scope of the appended claims as appropriately interpreted by those skilled in the art.

Claims (28)

A vise assembly that holds the beam and rotates it about the long axis of the beam;
At least one translational assembly operating along the beam;
A beam processing apparatus comprising: at least one tool head mounting body fixed to the translation assembly for processing the beam with a tool.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vise assembly includes a pair of opposing vises provided to cooperatively hold and rotate the beam.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the beam processing apparatus includes at least one motor to bring the vise closer to and away from the vise.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the vise includes a cradle that can rotate in order to support the beam.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the vise includes at least one motor for rotating the cradle.   4. A beam processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the at least one motor for moving the vise closer and away is coupled to a rack and pinion configuration.   The vise travels on a wheel, and the rack and pinion configuration includes a first rail mounted on the rack and a pinion that meshes with the rack, the pinion being a spindle of the at least one motor. The beam processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the beam processing device is fixed to one of the vise.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the translation assembly includes at least one gantry.   9. The beam processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the apparatus includes a gantry motor for moving the gantry relative to the vise assembly.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the at least one gantry travels along at least the second rail.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the at least one gantry travels along a first rail pair, and the vise travels along a second rail pair.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the first rail pair is disposed outside the second rail pair.   13. The any one of claims 8-12, wherein the at least one gantry includes three gantrys and the at least one tool head attachment includes three corresponding tool head attachments coupled thereto. Beam processing device according to item.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a welding tool is attached to one of the tool head attachment bodies.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a laser position detector is attached to one of the tool head attachment bodies.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a cutting tool is attached to one of the tool head attachment bodies.   14. The beam processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein an electromagnet is attached to one of the tool head attachments that selectively holds a part to be welded to the beam.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising a holder for storing the component at a predetermined position.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tool head attachment body includes a panning and tilting motor.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the tool head attachment body further includes a roll motor.   Including a computer control system configured to read an electronic file containing information for machining the steel beam by the vise assembly, the translation assembly, and at least one tool head attachment. The beam processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein the beam processing apparatus is characterized.   The beam processing according to claim 21, wherein the computer control system includes one or more controller boards configured to interact between a computer that reads the electronic file and a motor of the apparatus. apparatus.   The beam processing apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the controller is responsive to a position encoder of the motor. A method of machining a beam, the method comprising:
Rotating the beam along a long axis of the beam to a desired angle at which a tool head approaches;
Inspecting the position of the beam with a laser measuring device;
Moving the tool head to a predetermined position adjacent to the beam;
Manipulating the tool head on the beam,
A method characterized in that each step of the method is controlled by an electronic control system.   25. The method according to claim 24, comprising the step of repositioning a part attached to the beam from a retracted position to the predetermined position by gripping the part with an electromagnet.   26. The method of claim 25, wherein the method comprises checking with the laser measuring device whether the part is correctly oriented.   27. A method according to any one of claims 25 to 26, further comprising simultaneously operating the electromagnet and the welding head to weld the part to the beam.   28. The method of claim 27, wherein the tool head is moved to the predetermined position along the beam by a translation assembly.